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DPS: High bar, low test scores

Freshmen in Denver high schools performed poorly last month on several new final exams developed with questions based on what students should know to be proficient by state standards.

Only 13 of 2,730 students who took the Algebra I exam received an A on the "end of course assessment." More than 1,800 received F's. Only 13 percent of 2,933 students who took the Earth-science test got a C or above.

"It looks horrible," said school board member Jeannie Kaplan.

The bar, in effect, was raised, said Bob Good, director of assessment. "It gives them something to move up to."

It was the first year the tests, which made up 5 percent to 10 percent of students' overall grades, were given.

They could result in changes in the way subjects are taught and provide a renewed focus on standards, he said.

In a district struggling with academic achievement, Denver school officials are considering opening Advanced Placement classes to more students — and more rigorous tests to improve learning.

The district's reform, called The Denver Plan, focuses on improving high schools and middle schools — where achievement has been low and dropout rates high.

Denver Public Schools already has revamped courses and offered two-week head starts for freshmen and credit-recovery courses during the summer.

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Perhaps the most contradictory move to improve achievement is the district's plan to expand the number of Advanced Placement courses and remove many prerequisites.

The district wants to give more students the opportunity to take college-level courses.

Currently, a policy requires teachers or parents to recommend students for those classes.

The new plan would remove that barrier for some courses, said Gabe DeMola, the district's EXCELerator coach.

Isaura Pineda, 16,
gets some
direction from
math teacher
Christina Arbogast
during a
summer-school
Algebra I class this
week at Denver
West High School.
(Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)

"We want to develop a college-ready culture in the schools by expanding the AP offerings," DeMola said. "When you create a more rigorous environment, all these things you are shooting for — attendance rate, academic scores — go up."

There will be prerequisites for some courses — such as biology, calculus or chemistry. But for courses like English literature, human geography or U.S. government and politics, there will be no prerequisites.

"Kids who are motivated to take a college course should be able to take it," said Susana Cordova, director of DPS's language, literacy and cultural studies department.

Courses would have additional supports, such as tutoring, to help kids, she said.

Urban districts across the country have successfully added AP courses that traditionally were the domain of mostly suburban white schools, said Trevor Packer, a vice president of The College Board, the nonprofit that runs the AP program.

More minorities and poor students take the classes and pass the difficult three-hour AP exams — thereby earning college credit — than ever before, Packer said.

"While AP is expanding, we need to recognize that more students are failing too," Packer said.

He says those two phenomena prompt this question: Do the higher level courses inspire or discourage?

"In some cases, there are some urban schools where every kid is failing," Packer said. "I ask them, 'Why not teach an easier course?' "

Packer said students say they want the tougher classes — and say the experience of being exposed to college-level rigor helps them in the long run.

At Lincoln High, 228 students took at least one AP course last year, and 340 kids are expected to take one of the 11 AP courses being offered next year, said principal Antonio Esquibel. Students there can get into advanced classes by recommendation, scoring well on the pre-college entrance exam or by showing potential.

"We want to make sure AP courses are open to all kids," he said. "We don't want them limited to the top 5 percent. We want to stretch that opportunity."

Esquibel said the school has the highest percentage of students passing an AP course in the district, with 80 percent who took AP Spanish literature or AP Spanish language scoring at what's considered a level predictive of success in college. About 90 percent of the school's enrollment is Latino.

Providing more AP courses will not be cheap or easy. The cost of required college textbooks can be exorbitant. Statistics books being used at South High cost more than $100, according to South principal William Kohut.

High school teachers must also be trained to teach college-level courses.

Frazier O'Leary, an English teacher at Washington, D.C.'s Cardozo High School, has been offering AP English to any student for 10 years.

He has seen a student with mild autism who would have not been able to get into an AP course find his potential through the experience and become the school's valedictorian.

He also has had classes where no student passed the AP exam, but passing is not the goal, O'Leary said.

"Our AP program is to prepare students to be successful college students in English," he said. "The benefits they get from being around students and discussing the literature are lifelong benefits."

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